Acoustic Microscope

Last July, when Sonoscan introduced its Gen6 high-end
laboratory acoustic microscope, the designers of the microscope were eager to
see reports from the field. One innovation was Sonolytics™ software, an
advanced and very smooth Graphical User Interface.

The reports are now coming in. “The big difference,” one
user commented, “is that the Gen6 system allows me to concentrate on the parts
I’m working with, and on getting data and images from those parts, rather than
concentrating on the details of operating the microscope.” Another user called
the software “precisely intuitive” in getting him the results he needs, while
also saving time by cutting out unneeded tasks.

Users also remarked that it was very useful to be able to
select any resolution from <1 megapixel to 268 megapixels, rather than being
limited to prescribed values.

Also new in the Gen6 system was the PolyGate™ module , which
lets the operator “slice” a part into as many as 200 thin slices and make an
image of each slice during a single scan. Designers of the Gen6 system thought
that PolyGate analysiswould be most
useful in imaging multilayer samples and bulk materials such as ceramic.

What designers did not anticipate was the extent to which
inventive users would make thin-slice images of plastic-encapsulated
microcircuits in order to determine, for example, whether the die was tilted.

Another Gen6 system innovation is a 500MHz pulser having
improved signal stability, important for example in 230, 300 or 400 MHz imaging
of flip chip underfill, bumps and related features.

Last July, when Sonoscan introduced its Gen6 high-end
laboratory acoustic microscope, the designers of the microscope were eager to
see reports from the field. One innovation was Sonolytics software...